New ads at Capitol South metro station show thousands of wind jobs at risk

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, Sierra Club announced a national “Wind Week,” urging Congress to renew the wind Production Tax Credit, a critical policy upon which 75,000 American jobs rely. November 12th will mark the beginning of Wind Week, as labor, environmental, and wind industry groups come together to advocate for renewal of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind energy. The PTC is a federal tax policy that helps level the playing field by providing the certainty the wind industry needs for continued growth.

To kick off Wind Week, the Sierra Club took over the Capitol South Metro Station with bold new ads that show the importance of renewing the wind Production Tax Credit. The ads will run for one month.

“The wind industry is hard at work - Congress should do the same,” said Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. “With Wind Week, we’re taking it to the next level to show that Congress needs to protect tens of thousands of wind industry jobs. Every day that Congress delays action means more layoffs and job losses for American workers. The wind industry doesn’t just support clean energy that keeps our air free of pollution, it also feeds the families of 75,000 workers.”

The wind Production Tax Credit is set to expire at the end of this year. Already, the failure of Congress to renew the tax credit has led to over 3,534 jobs lost as companies delay or cancel plans for new wind installations and factories. The American Wind Energy Association estimates that approximately half of all existing American wind jobs - 37,000 jobs - will be lost if the PTC is not renewed by the end of the year.

Moving America toward a clean energy future will not only create new, high-quality American jobs, but will also yield significant public health benefits. Renewable energy like wind power replaces energy from fossil fuels that cause air pollution, which leads to heart attacks, asthma attacks and more than $100 billion in health costs.

Wind energy is an important part of America’s energy mix. Over 400 American manufacturing plants build wind components, and wind is supplying 25 percent more electricity to Americans than it was a year ago. States like Iowa and South Dakota already generate more than 20 percent of their electricity from wind power and that number is growing quickly.